Abstracts / Theriogenology 68 (2007) 492518 493modified by removing one-third of the outer silicone shell

containing progesterone, and threading this onto an 8 in.

cable tie which was tightened to pull the shell into a 5-cm

inverted V shape to fit into the vagina. Blood was

collected daily for 3 days prior to CIDR1 insertion, and

for 14 days after insertion. The CIDR1was removed and

blood was collected for an additional 3 days. The

treatments were then reversed and blood was collected as

above for a total of 37 days. Progesterone concentrations

were determined by solid-phase radioimmunoassay

(Coat-A-Count Progesterone RIA Kit, Diagnostics

Products, Corporation, Los Angeles, CA, USA); data

were analyzed using a two-way repeated ANOVA test (to

compare concentrations over time). With the exception of

Day 13 after CIDR1 insertion, there were no significant

differences between the concentrations of progesterone

produced by the small ruminant CIDR1s and the

modified bovine CIDR1s. The average serum proges-leptospira vaccine coupled with oxytetracycline treat-

ment did not improve the reproductive performance in

beef cows.

Keywords: Beef cows; Leptospira; Artificial insemina-

tion; Pregnancy rate

DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2007.05.005

PROGESTERONE CONCENTRATIONS IN GOATS

RECEIVING SMALL RUMINANT CIDR1s VERSUS

MODIFIED BOVINE CIDR1s

N. HirshD. Matsas, S.L. Ayres

Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North

Grafton, MA, USA

Administration of exogenous progesterone is an

important part of estrus synchronization and super-

ovulation protocols used in goat reproduction. Cur-

rently, progesterone implants for small ruminants are

not available in the United States, but bovine controlled

internal drug releasing devices (CIDR1s) containing

progesterone have been approved. The purpose of this

study was to compare the concentrations of serum

progesterone produced using small ruminant CIDR1s

to concentrations produced using modified bovine

CIDR1s.

Six alpine does in anestrus were used in a crossover

design. Three does had small ruminant CIDR1s (Eazi-

Breed CIDR1, InterAg, Hamilton, New Zealand) placed

in the vagina, whereas the remaining does received

bovine CIDR1s (Eazi-Breed CIDR1) that had beenDOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2007.05.006

DETERMINATION OF TESTICULAR BLOOD

FLOW IN LLAMAS USING VASCULAR CASTING

AND DOPPLER COLOR FLOW ULTRASONOGRA-

PHY

M. GrimesM. Kutzler, R. Tyson, K. Timm

College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State Uni-

versity, Corvallis, OR, USA

Background: Information on reproductive abnorm-

alities in camelids, specifically those pertaining to

spermatogenesis, is extremely limited. Many male

camelids have a high percentage of spermatozoa with

abnormal morphology. These abnormalities include

variable sperm head sizes and sperm head and midpiece

vacuolar defects. In cattle, swine and humans, it has

been shown that such abnormalities, in addition to

genetic reasons, can result from poor scrotal thermo-

regulation or decreased testicular blood flow. We

hypothesize that this is also true for camelids.

Materials and methods: A fertile 6-year-old male

alpaca was heparinized (40,000 IU sodium heparin IV)

and exsanguinated under anesthesia (xylazine, guaife-

nesin and ketamine IV). Sixty liters of heparinized

saline was flushed through the aorta and out of the

caudal vena cava. Batsons No. 17 casting material was

infused first through the aorta (red plastic) and then

through the caudal vena cava (blue plastic) to determine

position and size of the major vessels entering andterone peak was at, or just below, 4 ng/mL (average 3.85

for small ruminant and 4.01 for modified bovine

CIDR1s) on the day after CIDR1 insertion. Concentra-

tions began to decline immediately, falling to

leaving the testes. The pelvic region was then separated

and digested in a 3% potassium hydroxide solution.

Fertile (n = 8) and infertile (n = 4) male llamas

were sedated with butorphanol (15 mg IV and 15 mg

IM) and positioned in sternal recumbency. A Philips

Abstracts / Theriogenology 68 (2007) 492518494

Table 1

Mean (S.D.) testicular blood flow (in cm/s) from fertile and infertilellamas

TA PSV TA EDV MA PSV MA EDV

Fertile 19.6 5.4 6.4 2.2 13.9 3.1 8.6 2.9Infertile 16.5 3.8 5.3 1.8 10.4 2.0 6.7 0.3iU22 ultrasound system was used to perform a color

pulse-wave Doppler study of the supratesticular (TA)

and marginal arteries (MA) of both testes from

each male using an L12-5 probe. Peak systolic (PSV)

and end diastolic velocity (EDV) were averaged

for each individual and compared between groups

with a Students t-test. Significance was defined as

P < 0.05.Results: Based on the vascular casting study, we

found that the testicular artery originates from the

ventral surface of the aorta, gives rise to an epididymal

branch, and becomes very tortuous as it approaches the

testis. Mean S.D. testicular blood flow from bothgroups of llamas is summarized in Table 1. Peak

systolic velocity within the marginal arteries was higher

in fertile males compared to infertile males (P = 0.03).

There was no difference in blood flow in the other three

parameters.

Conclusions: Determining testicular blood flow will

assist in the diagnosis of infertility in camelids during

breeding soundness evaluations.

Keywords: Blood flow; Camelid; Doppler ultrasono-

graphy; Testes; Vasculature

DOI: 10.1016/j.theriogenology.2007.05.007other by number of embryos was conducted. Pregnant

females (483) with a viable embryo detected by

transrectal ultrasonography [TRUS] between 29 and

32 days after AI were randomly divided into three groups:

control group [NPAL group; n = 159], palpation per

rectum-1 [PAL-1 group; n = 163] and palpation per

rectum-2 [PAL-2 group; n = 161]. The NPAL group was

not submitted to palpation per rectum. The PAL-1 and

PAL-2 groups were submitted to palpation per rectum

using the fetal membrane slip technique once and twice

between 34 and 41 days of pregnancy, respectively. The

fetal membrane slip consisted of the compression of the

pregnant uterine horn and allowing chorioallantoic

membrane slip between the fingers. All the groups were

submitted to two additional TRUS (Days 45 and 60 of

pregnancy); Day 45 was used to monitor the potential

immediate deleterious effect of PPR on embryo viability,EARLY PREGNANCY DIAGNOSIS BY PALPA-

TION PER RECTUM: EFFECT OF NUMBER OF

FETAL MEMBRANE SLIPS ON PREGNANCY

LOSS IN DAIRY CATTLE

J.E. Romano 1,aJ.A. Thompson 1, D.C. Kraemer 2

1 Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veter-

inary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A & M

University, College Station, TX 77845, USA2 Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, College of

Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A

& M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA

aPresent address: Veterinary Population Medicine,

College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minne-

sota, St. Paul, MN, USA.

In bovine practice, palpation per rectum [PPR] is one

of the most frequent procedures performed by veter-

inarians and is the most frequent method used for

pregnancy diagnosis. There is contradictory information

regarding the potential deleterious effects of palpation

per rectum for early pregnancy diagnosis on embryo/

fetus viability. Earlier we reported no deleterious effect of

palpation per rectum for pregnancy diagnosis between 30

and 60 days of pregnancy. However, under practical

conditions, some females require more than one fetal

membrane slip to establish a diagnosis. This additional

manipulation could increase the potential deleterious

effect of palpation per rectum. The objective of this study

was to estimate the effect of the number of fetal

membrane slips performed by palpation per rectum

during early pregnancy diagnosis on pregnancy loss in

dairy cattle. A controlled, randomized block-design

experiment with two blocks, one by category and the